The Blue of Antyllus

by Michael E. Gonzales

  Several minutes passed before Dave heard sounds out in the escape bay. By the hushed voices, he concluded there were three or four individuals entering in the bay. They were looking around. Then one spoke in Malaysian. "Mereka telah pergi."

  Dave waited several minutes after he heard them leave, then he and Kathy slowly exited the locker.

  “Cover me,” he whispered to Kathy, then floated up to the next level where he found Pearson's body right where he'd left him. A large quantity of blood floated around him. He was no longer recognizable. "Thanks, Ed," Dave said, then cautiously floated out into the passage where even more blood floated. Ed evidently took some of the enemy with him.

  There was no trace of the Oceania terrorists now. Dave waved Kathy up and they quickly headed to the airlock. Dave dove in head first through the hatch, followed immediately by Kathy, who paused to close and seal the hatch. Once through the umbilical and into the shuttle they quickly checked the craft fore and aft to ensure they were alone inside. Once they were certain, Dave closed the hull hatch and headed to the command deck.

  Dave and Kathy powered up the ship and started the engines. He scanned the instruments, “Kathy, do you know how to disengage from the airlock umbilical?”

  “Let me review the plans and schematics,” she paused less than a second. “It’s over here on the bulk…head―” her voice trailed off.

  “What?” Dave shouted.

  “Honey, it’s not working!”

  “Hold on!” Dave shouted, and fired the bow thrusters and backed the shuttle away ripping the umbilical loose from both himself and the Demeter.

  “The hull breach alarm inside the Demeter must be sounding,” Kathy was now shouting, as she pulled herself up the bridge. “They know just what has happened and just where we are.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Dave replied. “I figured the Demeter's missile tracking computers are still offline, and before they can be brought up we’ll have time to think of something, right?”

  “Think of something? You told Zolna you had a plan.”

  “Yeah, I might have lied to him to get him out of here.”

  Kathy leaned over and kissed Dave’s cheek. “I love you.”

  As the shuttle backed away from the Demeter, Dave heard a very faint beeping sound from somewhere behind him, a sound he’d not heard as they came aboard. He knew it was not a sound associated with the normal operation of the ship.

  “Hey, do you hear that?” he asked.

  “It’s barely audible, even for us.”

  Kathy unbuckled from her seat and searched for the source of the beep. The sound was so low a human ear would not have heard it.

  At the flight engineer's station, on the floor under the console, rested a black sphere about the size of a bowling ball and magnetically attached to the metal deck. On the side facing Kathy was a tiny flashing red light. It was a bomb equipped with a motion detector. This insidious device was planted so as to detect an intruder as he entered the cockpit, then the time-delay detonator would allow sufficient time for the shuttle to get far enough away from the Demeter that the explosion would not damage her.

  Kathy quickly grabbed the device and with a simple push of a button stopped the detonator.

  “Dave, it’s a bomb with a mark twenty-one detonator.”

  Just then, out their view ports Dave saw large cargo doors open on the side of the Demeter, and from inside emerged a missile array holding three dozen missiles.

  Dave looked over to Kathy who was still examining the bomb, “Mesli,” he called softly to her.

  Kathy looked up to see what her husband was looking at.

  “Dave, you better think of something fast…we’re about out of time.”

  “Out of time.” Dave repeated slowly. “Yeah, baby, we are, but New Roanoke isn’t.”

  “What do you mean?” Kathy asked.

  “You said that bomb has a mark twenty-one detonator on it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll bet it’s a big bomb too, right?” Dave asked still pulling away from the Demeter.

  “It’s an S.B. one thirty-one, that means eight pounds of Tolenex, equivalent to eleven hundred kilograms of old-fashioned TNT. Yeah… Wilmington really wanted us dead.”

  Speaking slowly, and in a low monotone, Dave asked, “Honey―can your reset that detonator for, say, eleven and a half minutes?”

  Kathy looked up at the Demeter. Like Dave she considered their distance from her, and their angle to her.

  She then looked at Dave with a pained expression. “Eleven and a half minutes, on your mark, darling.”

  Dave fired the main thrusters and corrected his course. At ninety degrees to the Demeter’s course he fired his forward maneuvering thrusters at full force, then spun the shuttle on both its X and Y axes until the shuttle was looking directly at the bow of the great interstellar ship, straight at the massive window on the command deck.

  Dave determined his distance to the Demeter, and his speed of approach. He checked his internal chronometer, then he turned to Kathy and said, “Mark.”

  Kathy pushed the button, and the timer started.

  Dave checked his calculations again, paused, smiled at Kathy, leaned over and kissed her. “Kathy, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  Kathy smiled back, “We’re not finished, Dave. I’ll see you at Onellametsa Porr tie.”

  “The gate to the forest of great joy. Yeah…yes. Till the last star burns out.”

  Dave adjusted the shuttle's course, reached down and took Kathy’s hand, and they both prayed.

  ○O○

  On his throne-like seat on the bridge, Wilmington looked out the huge forward window with a dark and disturbingly excited humor as he watched the shuttle drift away. His pleasure was interrupted when the female voice of the CDC announced over the PA, "New Roanoke targeted and locked, sir. We are ready to fire on your command.”

  Wilmington smiled to himself. He sat there a moment, watching as the shuttle continued to drift away, knowing that soon it, and that hated sergeant, would disintegrate. He knew it must be Mitchel in that vessel, and likely that female officer who caused all his troubles. For a moment, he saw himself as holding the lives of the entire population of New Roanoke, all those who had defied him, in the palm of his hand. He sat back and savored this moment. He would soon destroy all his enemies in the colony, and in mere moments, he would see the architect of his embarrassment vanish in a boiling ball of flame before his very eyes. He had not known such great pleasure in a very long time.

  He would rule this world, and with the elixir, he would see the Oceania terrorists conquer the entirety of planet Earth. Then, with the power the elixir gave him over them, he would rule both worlds.

  Wilmington threw his head back and laughed; as he did, he slowly turned up his voice amplifier. When it was at maximum he shouted, "I am a god!"

  "Sir!" It was Captain Renfield, his voice panicked.

  The antique on-board computer's simulated voice began to calmly announce, "Proximity warning, collision eminent—"

  Wilmington looked out the massive observation window at the ship's bow, and there he saw the shuttle heading directly for him. There was no time to do anything.

  "Fire all missiles!" Wilmington screamed in a last act of malice and vengeance.

  Looking again at the approaching shuttle, he could see Dave and Kathy through the shuttle's windscreen. The three made eye contact.

  "Damn you, you bastard!" Willington shouted. That's when he noticed… Dave and Kathy were smiling.

  ○O○

  The entire population of New Roanoke, and all the citizens of Kulan Kaus were out in the field in the southwest corner of the compound, directly south of Kulan Kaus. All eyes were on Le'ha and Nista, the Poh’palm meas as the two walked out alone in front of everyone their arms extended, their faces up, and their eyes closed. The two women began singing a song that to the ears of the Tuva sounded to be the very depth of sadness. The masses of people
behind them were all as silent as stone. Watching them and waiting.

  Le'ha's arms fell to her side and she bowed her head. Then, she fell to her knees and screamed a scream of immense pain and sorrow. The people recoiled. Nista did not move, or even look down on her friend. Then through the depth of her pain, she lifted her hand and pointed toward the sky in the south east. All heads turned to look up where she pointed. Le'ha rose and shouted, "Kataso!" Nista then turned and embraced Le’ha firmly.

  At the point in the sky she had indicated, a bright star appeared and quickly grew to an enormous size, seemingly filling the sky. The light was brighter than the red dwarf by many degrees of magnitude, requiring everyone to shield their eyes.

  As quickly as it grew, it began to recede, then a glowing sphere burst forth from the center as the star expanded quickly then slowly it began to fade. Within the glowing sphere, a multitude of bright sparks erupted. Then, all that remained was a dimly glowing halo.

  Le'ha wept uncontrollably onto Nista’s shoulder. After a moment, Nista looked toward the crowd and exclaimed with a voice choked with sadness, "Dave et Kathee, an kulaut!" With those words, every E'meset woman began to wail and pull their hair. The male E'meset fell to their knees and extended their arms. Looking upward, each began to recite a prayer.

  ○O○

  Mitch felt Cassie bury her head into his chest in profound sorrow. Mitch's face displayed absolute shock.

  Lieutenant Colonel Lindsay, the new commander of the CDF, was standing nearby and like most Tuva was very confused. He turned to Mitch, whom he knew spoke E'meset.

  "What's happening?" he asked.

  Mitch slowly turned to the officer and spoke in a low voice. "Nista says Dave and Kathy are dead."

  "She can't know that."

  "Colonel, if she says they’re dead, they’re dead."

  Word quickly spread throughout the entire Tuva population and they, too, began to mourn.

  Slowly, Le'ha lifted her head and looked to the west. In the sky were three bright red parachutes and dangling from each was a canister with brilliant flashing lights. One began to drift toward the south the other due west. The third object had captured Le’ha’s attention and she began to slowly move toward it.

  Mitch noticed and called Cassie's attention to Le'ha. The tall stately woman walked slowly at first never taking her eyes from the slowly descending object. Then she started to run.

  Mitch turned to the colonel, "Let me have your pistol." Without hesitation, the colonel handed it to him, and Mitch and Cassie began to run after Le'ha.

  Le'ha exited the compound, dashing through the small maintenance gate in the south wall and turned right following the side of the wall. Mitch and Cassie stayed just far enough back as they followed her.

  Le'ha passed the end of the wall and ran through the cleared kill zone that surrounded the outside of the wall, then burst into the blue wall of the forest as if it weren't there.

  Mitch and Cassie found it hard to keep up with her as she deftly bounded over, under, and around every obstacle. But, being SUBs, they managed.

  Le’ha ran up the sides of steep hills and slid down slopes; she bounded over wide gullies and splashed through streams like a woman possessed. Eventually, Mitch and Cassie lost track of her, so they just maintained their heading and kept running.

  After a few minutes, they ran around a massive boulder and were surprised to see a huge red swath before them in the sea of blue. The parachute was hung up in the trees and hanging before them like a blood-red barrier.

  Slowly, they walked around the scarlet curtain. On the other side, they saw hanging, some two meters above the ground, the canister, its door open. Below were Le'ha and Zolna in an embrace the image of which would be remembered by Mitch and Cassie for the remainder of their lives.

  Eventually, Le'ha looked up at Cassie. Her tears of joy fell like a December rain. She smiled and cried, "My little Talme has been returned to me just as Dave promised me he would, just as Dave promised." She fell to her knees and laid her head on Zolna's shoulder and wept.

  Mitch and Cassie approached slowly. Zolna looked at them, his face burdened with great sadness.

  "He made me go," Zolna said in a low monotone voice still dumbfounded by events. "He made me go, he ordered me, he called me sergeant, me…after all these years as friends, he pulled rank on me. He shamed me into getting in that can. Said he’d promised Le'ha…he promised her. I should have stayed."

  Le'ha looked up at him as Cassie stepped up and put her hand on his shoulder. "No, we would have just lost all three of you. You followed your orders; you kept Dave's word to Le'ha. This is not your fault, Talme. You did what Dave asked you to do. We all did."

  Le'ha spoke weakly through her tears of joy and sorrow. "Dave gave me his promise, and he has never lied to me, my Talme. I knew he would not lie today."

  There was a long pause before Zolna spoke again. He cupped Le'ha's head in his hands. "When I asked him what he was going to do, he told me he had a plan. He didn’t have a plan, he was just making it up as he went.”

  Le'ha's eyes grew large and her mouth fell open. She stood and looked about at everyone.

  "No,” she said slowly. “Dave, and my sister Kathee, became Palotu Ayanya, he who brought order to fire before the second sun.

  "In those days, there lived an angry god who was called Rayqua Coy. He lived within Eya'Etee Ki Kee and wished to be greater than Lu'aya. He demanded a flesh and blood sacrifice from the E'meset, or he said he would destroy the world.

  "Palotu Ayanya, the fire master, set himself ablaze, and killed Rayqua Coy by sacrificing himself. So, did Palotu Ayanya burn the evil from Eya'Etee Ki Kee. So, did Dave and Kathee burn the evil away, this day."

  ○O○

  Zolna, Le'ha, and all the people of the two cities listened as the new mayor, Cassie O'Connell, declared a period of mourning. No declaration was really necessary. The people of both cities had already descended into mourning. That first night, the E'meset built a huge bonfire and surrounded it with dozens of smaller fires. They invited their New Roanoke friends to join them in fasting and the singing of songs.

  Le'ha, her children, and Zolna sat quietly near a smaller fire listening to the songs and prayers. Le'ha was very upset, and no amount of consoling by Zolna or her children helped.

  Later that night, after Poy eka Hondar and Kawness Suitusand had fallen asleep, Le'ha snuggled up close to Zolna and whispered to him, "My little Talme. I feel I am a poor friend and a bad person."

  "What?" Zolna said so loud he had to check behind Le'ha to ensure the kids were still asleep. "What are you talking about?" he whispered.

  "I am truly sad that Dave and Kathy have gone to the gate. I know that many times do we all owe them our lives, and I have promised to remember them both always. But still, there is joy in my heart when there should be no room for it. You see…I still have my little Talme, and I learned this day that you are my true Sudamine. No ghosts are in my mind or in my heart."

  Zolna kissed her gently. "It's not wrong, Le'ha, to feel as you do. Dave and Kathy would understand, and they would want us to be happy. Baby, Dave pushed me back to ensure our happiness. I am so thankful that I have you, Poy eka Hondar, and Kawness Suitusand in my life. Without you, right now I would be lost. Our family has given me purpose and direction. I've never had that before. Add to that my love for you, and it's more than I could have ever hoped for…ever."

  Le'ha embraced him and squeezed him tightly and, again, tears ran down her face.

  "And baby," Zolna added, "something else to consider…a reason to be happy for Dave and Kathy…now they will be together, always.”

  Chapter 19

  THE MISTS

  The weeks that followed the days of mourning were a celebration of the lives of Dave and Kathy. Both human and E'meset storytellers set their lives to print and prose so that future generations might know them.

  One evening, well after dark, Le'ha sent Zolna to find Mitch and Cassie, Nash and T
anny. Zolna explained he could have called them over Ismay, but Le'ha wanted him to find them and bring them to her.

  Zolna entered New Roanoke and went first to the control room, where he was informed that the O'Connell's were in the SUB recharge room.

  When Zolna arrived, the two were just getting out of the chambers.

  "Veha dukeset, Talme." Cassie greeted him with a traditional welcome that the E'meset reserved for close friends and relations.

  "Veha dukeset, Cassie, Mitch. I didn't think you two were scheduled for a recharge till September."

  "We're not," Mitch said.

  Cassie picked up, "Mitch and I have reduced the amount of time it takes to recharge from below twenty percent."

  "Rather than twenty-four hours or more, we can now accomplish the procedure in eight." Mitch said. "Cassie figured it out."

  "We both did," Cassie said, taking Mitch's hand. Then in a softer voice, she said, "I got it from one of Dave's concepts."

  There was a moment of silence before Zolna spoke, "Um…Le'ha wants to see us—and Nash and Tanny, as well. Know where they are?"

  “This time of day, Tanny will be in the lab, and Nash somewhere with the CDF, likely the headquarters offices.”

  It took them an hour to round the two of them up.

  “Le’ha want to see us? All of us?” Nash asked.

  “Yeah, Nash. It’s very important.” Zolna replied.

  Tanny was very much surprised. "Zolna, is your connection to Ismay not working?"

  "Le’ha asked me to physically bring all of you. You know I can't deny my Mesli. Come on. I have a PC waiting in the south bay."

  "Where is she that we need a PC?" Tanny asked.

  "Come on," Zolna smiled and waved them on.

  From the south garage, Zolna drove around the city and out the east gate. Then he turned south and followed the city wall until they arrived at one of the old clinic trails, then up onto the hill with the cleared eastern side, devoid of trees, and covered with low, blue vegetation just south of the city.